We made the list for Best Cities for First-Time Buyers (companies, single)

[yukon]

Nice to know most of the posters here on the thread can afford a $1300+ house note, not including property taxes HOA and savings for future maintenance. Most of you must have dual incomes.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by asufan

You can still get a 1,500 SF 3 bed/2 bath resale property in the Town of Maricopa for $175,000 and a similar NEW BUILD for under $200,000. Granted it's not the most desirable part of metro Phoenix but first time buyers can't expect to be in the middle of the action with their first purchase. Something like that is as cheap as a 1 bedroom apartment even with only 3% down.

That still comes out to about $1600 a month at 3% down/4% interest, with PMI/estimated average HOA/taxes/insurance included. And that's assuming the drive from Maricopa to wherever the first time homebuyer works isn't a huge commute.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by yukon

That still comes out to about $1600 a month at 3% down/4% interest, with PMI/estimated average HOA/taxes/insurance included. And that's assuming the drive from Maricopa to wherever the first time homebuyer works isn't a huge commute.

I'm getting more like $1,200 PITI and assuming $50 for HOA.

$195,000 financed at 3.75% is $900/month P&I so I'm adding $300 to that for everything else. No way is it close to $700/month for property taxes, hazard and mortgage insurance and HOA. Property taxes on that are about $100 a month and everything else is less.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by yukon

Nice to know most of the posters here on the thread can afford a $1300+ house note, not including property taxes HOA and savings for future maintenance. Most of you must have dual incomes.

It doesn't require two incomes, nor even a massive single one. Someone making $80k, for example, takes home around $4500/mo. $1500 toward housing should be plenty doable as long as you're not in debt nor trying to live the high life.

[man4857]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

It doesn't require two incomes, nor even a massive single one. Someone making $80k, for example, takes home around $4500/mo. $1500 toward housing should be plenty doable as long as you're not in debt nor trying to live the high life.

It should be doable, but it depends on your view of debt. I lean on the conservative side, so my goal is to keep all housing (with utilities) <1500 (with P&I <1000). You can still buy a fairly nice place for a mid 200k budget. It just won't be your huge 2 story, white picket fence, 3 car garage type.

With your 1500 budget, all in housing with utilities and maintenance, we would be looking towards a total cost of roughly 1800-2000/mo. That's too high for me to swallow.

[asufan]

Originally Posted by man4857

It should be doable, but it depends on your view of debt. I lean on the conservative side, so my goal is to keep all housing (with utilities) <1500 (with P&I <1000). You can still buy a fairly nice place for a mid 200k budget. It just won't be your huge 2 story, white picket fence, 3 car garage type.

With your 1500 budget, all in housing with utilities and maintenance, we would be looking towards a total cost of roughly 1800-2000/mo. That's too high for me to swallow.

Don't forget amortization (the process of paying down the loan). It may be a very small amount in the beginning but every payment you make is paying down the loan a little at a time. Sometimes people compare rent vs mortgage and forget about that, which is another way to build equity besides appreciation. Utilities are paid whether you rent or buy so I like to just focus on the PITI when doing the comparison.

[man4857]

Originally Posted by asufan

Don't forget amortization (the process of paying down the loan). It may be a very small amount in the beginning but every payment you make is paying down the loan a little at a time. Sometimes people compare rent vs mortgage and forget about that, which is another way to build equity besides appreciation. Utilities are paid whether you rent or buy so I like to just focus on the PITI when doing the comparison.

Yes that's another consideration. With a higher $ of cashflow, the more you can throw extra money at the principal and reduce the interest paid over the life of the loan. Especially helpful if you're trying to get rid of PMI and increase equity.

[yukon]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

It doesn't require two incomes, nor even a massive single one. Someone making $80k, for example, takes home around $4500/mo. $1500 toward housing should be plenty doable as long as you're not in debt nor trying to live the high life.

I don't know a whole lot of singles, or older buyers who make $80,000 a year.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by yukon

I don't know a whole lot of singles, or older buyers who make $80,000 a year.

You must be a youngster!

[yukon]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

You must be a youngster!

Not hardly. I do have friends of all ages though and most of the single ones do not make $80,000 a year. Not even the ones who own their own companies.